Carrying case



Jan. 12, 1943. 3, GAMROD CARRYING CASE Filed Feb. 24. 1940 llllllll.

ALbcrt'C. Gamrod Patented Jan. 12, 1943 CARRYING CASE Albert C. Gamrod, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 24, 1940, Serial No. 320,691

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to carrying cases for photographic cameras. Such cases may be formed from a single piece of sheet material such, for example, as heavy leather to provide the various Walls of the case. In making the case, the strip is first placed on a suitable form, and the various members are then arranged in their proper assembled position. In this assemblying or boxing-up operation, the side wall members are arranged in overlapping relation and glued or adhesively secured together, after which the side members are stitched together and to the side edges of the bottom to retain the case parts in assembled relation. To thus form the case, the operation of forming the" blank, boxing up the blank, gluing the sidewall members, and stitching the parts together are all required. A suitable carrying strap may also be stitched or otherwise permanently secured to the case, as is well known. It is thus apparent that these various assembly operations are both time consuming and expensive.

The present invention has, therefore, as its primary object, the provision of a carrying case structure which may be assembled with the minimum of expense and labor.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a carrying case, the parts of which may be quickly and easily connected together in assembled relation.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a carrying case which may be completely and accurately assembled by unskilled labor.

A still further object of the invention is the pro-vision of an arrangement for retaining the case parts in assembled relation without the use of adhesives or stitching.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a carrying case which may be readily assembled to form a support for a camera, yet which may be just as readily unfolded or knocked down substantially into a plane suitable for storing or shipping.

To these and other ends, the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claim at the end of the specification.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view of the blank from which the carrying case of the present invention is formed;

Fig. 2 shows the blank folded or formed up into assembled relation to provide a case adapted to receive a camera; and

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through a portionof the assembled ease, showing the arrangement by which the parts are detachably retained in assembled relation.

Similar reference numerals throughout the various .views indicate the same parts.

The carrying case embodied in the present invention is cut, stamped, or otherwise formed from a suitable strip or blank of sheet material such, for example, as heavy leather to provide a front wall II, a back wall ii, a bottom l3 connected to the front and back walls along the lines I l and 15 respectively. The wall members and the bottom are formed with narrow laterally extending flaps i6 and I1 respectively, as shown in Fig. 1. In forming the case, the back and front Walls are folded on the lines i4 and I5 to extend upwardly at right angles to the bottom i3, as is Well known. Each adjacent pair of flaps it are then folded on the line i8 50 as to be arranged in overlapping relation to form one side wall L! of the case, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The opposite pair of flaps iii are similarly folded to form the opposite side Wall. The flaps H, on the other hand, are folded on the line 3 and are bent upwardly to overlie the side wall flaps [6, as best shown in Fig. 3. A closure flap Ell is formed integral with the back wall l2 and is arranged to be folded over and secured to the front wall I I, as shown in Fig. 2, to close the case, as is Well known in the art.

Prior to the present invention, such carrying cases were formed up by placing the blank on a suitable form and then folding the various flaps in the manner above described. This folding or forming is known as boxing-up the blank. The flaps l6 and H were then glued and stitched together to thus permanently connect the flaps to retain the case in assembled position. Such gluing and stitching is usually done with skilled or semi-skilled labor.

In order to reduce the cost of such assembling, and to enable the case to be formed up by unskilled labor, the present invention provides a new and highly effective, yet extremely simple arrangement to retain the various flaps in assembled relation. To this end, the side flaps I6 are provided, in the blank forming operation, with pairs of slots 22 which, when the flaps I6 are folded in overlying relation, are brought into registry, as shown in Fig. 3. Each of the flaps I1 is also similarly formed with a single slot 23 which is adapted to register with a pair of slots 22 when the flap I! is arranged to overlie the flap I6, as shown in Fig. 3 and above described. A strip 24, preferably leather, is then threaded or laced through the registering slot, as best shown in Fig. 3 to thus detachably secure the flaps l6 and I] together to retain the case in assembled relation. This strip extends down both sides and across the bottom of the case and aids in the support of the bottom I3, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The bottom I3 is also preferably formed with a pair of slots 25 through which the strip 24 is laced to retain the strip in position on and to support the bottom, as will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 2. In addition to affording the connecting means to the various flaps, the strap 24 may be also used as a carrying strap for the camera case.

By means of the above arrangement, the parts are positively retained in assembled relation without the use of adhesives or stitching. Furthermore, the case may be easily and quickly assembled with a minimum of expense by unskilled labor. Due to the ease of assembling, the abovedescribed case construction readily lends itself to shipping or storing in a knocked down or collapsed condition. Such knocked down arrangement, see Fig. l, is particularly desirable where shipping or storage space is at a premium. Then when the case is to be used, it may be easily and readily assembled, either by .the dealer or the customer, to the form shown in Fig. 2 to provide a carrying case for a camera.

While one embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it is to be understood that the inventive idea may be carried out in a number of ways. The present application is therefore not to be limited to the precise details described, but is intended to cover all variations and modifications thereof falling Within the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A camera carrying case made from a single piece of sheet material to provide a front Wall, a back wall, and a bottom connecting said walls, narrow marginal flaps extending from the lateral edges of said Walls and said bottom, the adjacent flaps on said walls being arranged in overlapping relation to form the opposite side walls of said case, the flaps on said bottom being turned upwardly to overlie said side walls, said flaps being formed with sets of registering slits, and a carrying strap laced through said slits to both support the case and to retain said flaps in assembled relation.

ALBERT C. GAMROD. 

